Thursday, March 12, 2009

A Random Post About "Kohl"

Ooh, scary child! Scary child would be scary even without the kohl, but doesn't the kohl help?

What is kohl? It's a mixture of soot and other stuff that some South Asian and African people (and silent movie stars and young rock stars) wear to accentuate their eyes. It's been around since the Bronze Age. Egyptian queens wore it. It has been believed to have anti-bacterial properties, and, like the smears on football players' faces, it helps deflect the sun. The Prophet Muhammed supposedly applied it before going to bed. It's used even on infants. It protects against the evil eye. Some traditional recipes use heavy metals and can cause lead poisoning. Other ingredients might be lamp black, goose fat, frankincense, the soot of burned sunflower seeds and almond shells, and castor oil.

Tigers wear it.And it's cool.

I've never worn it. I have no make-up bravery. I've been applying the same mascara, brown eye liner, and smudge of brown shadow for, er, I don't know, 15 years? Kohl eyes wouldn't really suit my pajama-esque housebound writer's apparel (not that pink hair does . . . actually, pink hair goes with everything)! But look how cool and exotic it is when worn by cool and exotic people, including men:Incidentally, one of my characters is cool like this, which is why I am thinking about it at all.

(And I've aaaallllways wanted to try kohl too, but I just don't wear much makeup. Me thinks I need to try it anyway. For research, perhaps? YES! And that's why you should try it! In the name of research!)

I LOL when I read you say you had no make up bravery...because, um, hello. Pink hair? And, oh yeah STRIPPER SHOES?! I think you could pull it off. Ha! I am sure kohl would look super good with your hair, next time you do a night on the town.

When I do make it up sometime, I will give you a super cool make up job! (Remember I used to do this?)That would be fun.

Hmm... no kohl in my book, but our stories are starting to sound eerily alike. And yet, knowing us, they'll be complete opposites! Just seems like the setting is similar. Sorta. You're in Morocco and I'm in Yemen. So maybe I'm crazy. Yup. I am.

About Me

I'm a writer & artist. I live in Portland, Oregon with my husband Jim (also an artist) and our small daughter, Clementine Pie. My novels are Dreamdark: Blackbringer, Dreamdark: Silksinger, and Lips Touch, which was a finalist for the 2009 National Book Award. My next novel, Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Little, Brown) will be out September 27, 2011. I believe our dreams are REAL THINGS, not wisps and air, and it is our job in this life to make them come true, because no one else will do it for us, and because this is our one and only "wild & precious life"!